The Ministry of Environment and Energy is proposing a new package of changes to planning legislation, aimed at resolving outstanding issues ranging from major unauthorised buildings to property mergers and minor construction works.

The bill, which has been put out for public consultation until 24 October, opens up new possibilities for certain properties in the most serious Category 5 classification, facilitates the functional connection of neighbouring properties even across different apartment blocks, and rewrites specific rules governing minor building works and the €25,000 threshold.

However, alongside the planning changes, the bill contains a second set of measures. Special procedures will accelerate permits for the facilities of Hellenic Defence Systems (HDS) in Lavrio and Dervenochoria, enabling the company to relocate from Mount Hymettus and freeing up the site for the “Andreas Lentakis” Government Park. At the same time, more dams will be eligible for transfer to the EYDAP Fixed Assets Company free of charge, as part of an expansion of the public water-management framework.

Category 5: a partial reopening for unauthorised buildings

The Ministry of Environment and Energy is not restoring the general possibility of regularising unauthorised buildings in Category 5, which was closed in autumn 2020. However, it is widening the scope of the exemptions.

This category covers the most serious planning violations: buildings erected without a building permit, or properties exceeding permitted building density or site coverage by more than 40%, or the authorised height by more than 20%.

The new provision adds two cases that can be brought under the regularisation regime.

The first covers properties already declared under the previous laws 4014/2011 and 4178/2013, which are now being transferred to Law 4495/2017 or the new Code. The aim is to resolve outstanding cases involving declarations initiated under an earlier legislative framework.

The second concerns buildings serving public or community purposes. These include primary and secondary schools, municipal nurseries and childcare centres run by municipal legal entities, buildings belonging to Ktiria­kes Ypodomes S.A. (Building Infrastructure S.A.), municipal sports facilities and social welfare facilities.

One aspect of the bill is, however, expected to require clarification during the consultation process. Eligibility is linked to the deadline set out in paragraph 2 of Article 344 of the Code, which concerns the Electronic Building Identity. The wording does not make clear whether this is the ministry’s intention or whether the reference to the legislation is incorrect.

Two flats become one continuous space

A second change concerns a very different category of property and could have practical implications for both residential and commercial premises.

The ministry is widening the scope for functional unification so that it is no longer restricted to properties within the same building. Two adjoining or contiguous subdivided properties will be able to function as a single space even if they are located in neighbouring buildings or land plots.

For example, two adjoining flats belonging to different apartment blocks could be connected and used as one space, subject to certain conditions. The same could apply to neighbouring shops, offices or other commercial premises, provided the intended use is permitted.

The key requirement is consent. The provision sets a threshold of 67% of the owners of each subdivided property being merged, even where the apartment block’s regulations or the deed establishing horizontal ownership provide otherwise. This means that the agreement of every owner in both buildings will not automatically be required.

Structural integrity remains a firm limit. Where reinforcement of the load-bearing structure is necessary, the owners undertaking the merger may carry out the work at their own expense, even unilaterally, provided the interventions remain within their own properties.

The new arrangement is not irreversible. It will remain possible to subdivide the spaces functionally again and restore the previous arrangement.

The €25,000 threshold reshuffles the rules for building work

Changes are also being introduced in a more everyday area: which building works can be carried out under Approval for Minor Building Works and when a full building permit is required.

The ministry is intervening in the new “Nikolaos Tagaras” Spatial Planning and Urban Development Code just months after its publication last June.

The most significant change concerns exemptions from the €25,000 threshold. Installing an autonomous heating system will be added to the list of works that can be carried out under approval for minor building works, regardless of the project’s budget.

Canopies and covered structures will move in the opposite direction. They will no longer be exempt from the financial threshold and will once again be subject to the general rule: where the total budget for works exceeds €25,000 per horizontal or vertical property, a building permit will be required unless a more specific provision applies.

Photovoltaic systems and wind turbines will remain exempt, while the total number of categories of work that can be carried out without being subject to this financial cap will stand at 12.

Certain properties belonging to the Public Employment Service (DYPA) will receive different treatment. Works on buildings included in the Strategic Importance Contract Development Programme or funded by the Recovery Fund will be eligible for approval for minor building works without a budget limit.

Fast-track permits for Hellenic Defence Systems’ relocation

Another section of the bill clears the administrative path for the relocation of Hellenic Defence Systems from Mount Hymettus. A particularly compressed permitting timetable is envisaged for the construction, upgrading, modernisation and operation of the company’s existing and new facilities in Lavrio and at the Pyli site in Dervenochoria, Boeotia.

Requests for exemptions from environmental permitting will be examined as an absolute priority, even where this requires derogation from general and specific provisions. Provided the application file is complete, a decision must be issued within 30 days and may remain valid for up to five years.

The special permit for industrial facilities will be processed within 20 days. The same 20-day deadline will apply to the Central Council for Urban Planning Issues and Disputes, which will issue opinions on plans and studies submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Work will be able to begin once a favourable opinion has been issued.

Safeguards for archaeological discoveries will remain in place. The competent authority must be notified in writing before excavation begins and, if antiquities are found, work must stop to allow a rescue excavation to take place.

The acceleration measures are directly linked to plans for Mount Hymettus, since the removal of Hellenic Defence Systems is a prerequisite for developing the site earmarked for the “Andreas Lentakis” Government Park.

Dams under EYDAP’s expanded remit

A provision of less direct relevance to urban planning, but of strategic importance, concerns water infrastructure.

The option of transferring assets to the EYDAP Fixed Assets Company free of charge, currently available for the Evinos dam and reservoir, will be expanded to cover other dams and their associated facilities, provided they were built by services of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

The transfers will take place without financial compensation, under a joint ministerial decision by the ministers responsible for infrastructure and the environment. They will be exempt from fees for registration at cadastral offices, as well as taxes, stamp duty and related charges.

The provision supplements the framework introduced in August to develop the EYDAP Fixed Assets Company into a larger public pillar for the management of water services.

New Building Regulations, Evros and other planning changes

The same legislative package addresses several other outstanding issues of a different nature.

A further year will be granted for traditional unauthorised structures in the Evros Delta. The deadline for inclusion in the special regime will be moved from 31 December 2026 to 31 December 2027, without changes to the eligibility requirements or the area’s specific protection conditions.

Under the New Building Regulations (NOK), protection from sanctions and from the prohibition on legal transactions will remain in force until 31 December 2026 for buildings whose permits have been or are being annulled because of the use of planning incentives and additional development allowances. To qualify for protection, an application for the reissue of the permit must have been submitted on time through the e-Adeies electronic building-permit system.

The ministry is also setting clearer limits on targeted amendments to urban plans. As a rule, such changes cannot be used to reduce public spaces or spaces required for community purposes, increase the applicable building coefficient, or introduce more restrictive changes to the general categories of land use. They must also be consistent with first-tier urban planning.

Finally, a legislative cross-reference concerning settlements established before 1923 is being corrected, without creating a new right to build indirectly. Their urban development and expansion will continue to require a Local or Special Urban Plan. Existing transitional options through General Urban Plans or Urban Planning and Residential Development Studies will remain available until the new planning framework is completed.

The bill also clarifies which properties in densely built-up areas covered by urban planning studies may obtain a building permit before the implementation plan has been completed. This option will remain available provided the relevant obligations of property owners have been settled, including the financial contribution and the conversion of the land contribution into a financial obligation.